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Autopsy: Head trauma, not fire, killed man found burning

A Kensington man whose body was found burning on a secluded Northeast Philly street early Tuesday died of blunt-force trauma to the head, the Medical Examiner's Office has ruled.

A Kensington man whose body was found burning on a secluded Northeast Philly street early Tuesday died of blunt-force trauma to the head, the Medical Examiner's Office has ruled.

Angel Marrero-Padilla, 21, of Boudinot Street near Cambria, was found burning and tied with an electrical cord to a metal floor jack on Newtown Avenue between Adams and Godfrey just before 1 a.m. Tuesday, police spokeswoman Officer Jillian Russell said. The ME's office ruled the death a homicide.

Firefighters made the gruesome discovery when they responded to a rubbish fire there. Small  bags of trash and other detritus dumped along the road were on fire along with Marrero-Padilla's body. His ankles were tightly bound with electrical cords, and more cords were loosely wrapped around his neck and wrists, tying him to the base of a metal floor jack — usually used to raise cars — that weighed about 50 pounds.

See coverage in today's paper here.